Our Kind of People: Thoughts on the HIV/AIDS epidemic

Description

HIV/AIDS has profoundly affected life in sub-Saharan Africa. It has been reported as one of the most destructive diseases in recent memory - tearing apart communities and ostracising the afflicted. But the emphasis on death, despair and destruction hardly captures the many and varied impacts of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Award-winning novelist and doctor Uzodinma Iweala embarks on a remarkable journey in Nigeria meeting individuals and communities that are struggling daily to understand both the impact and meaning of the disease. He speaks with people from all walks of life, those living with HIV/AIDS and those who aren't, doctors, nurses, truck drivers, sex workers, shopkeepers, students, parents and children who are all trying to make sense of life, love, and our connections to each other as people in the face of an unprecedented epidemic. Beautifully written and heart-breakingly honest, Our Kind of People goes behind the headlines of this epidemic to show the real lives affected by it, illuminating the scope of the crisis and a continent's valiant struggle.

Uzodinma Iweala is 23 years old. He is a Nigerian born in the United States and a recent Harvard graduate. He currently lives in New York City where he writes and works on the Millennium Villages Project.

A sobering, ultimately optimistic exploration of a crisis amplified by poverty and misinformation - Independent on Sunday Searingly honest, you'll find it hard not to be touched by the award-winning novelist and doctor Uzodinma Iweala's account of the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa - Pride Magazine In this unassuming but important book, Uzodinma Iweala gives the AIDS pandemic not just a human face but a human voice - Times Literary Supplement This is a work of visceral urgency and power: it heralds the arrival of a major talent - Amitav Ghosh on BEASTS So scorched by loss and anger that it's hard to hold and so gripping in its sheer hopeless lifeforce that it's hard to put down. - Ali Smith, Guardian, on BEASTS This is an extraordinary book ... horrifying expose ... vivid ... It casts a powerful, if gruesome spell - Sunday Telegraph, on BEASTS Gives a name, a voice and a heart to one of Africa's innumerable child soldiers ... This is urgent writing, starkly unsentimental and convincing - Observer on BEASTS This sad, unforgettable novel is a fitting testament to the countless Agus who continue to kill and be killed across that most tragic of continents. - Daily Telegraph on BEASTS